Deja Vu – Climate Weekly

The Cop28 presidency has teamed up with the fossil gas enterprise on an initiative to reduce the emissions from producing – however not utilizing – oil and gas.

Whenever you occur to’re getting deja vu, that’s because there’s been an alphabet soup of identical initiatives fair not too lengthy ago. The NZPF, the OGCI, the EIERGHGFF…you acquire the image!

All of them acquire the identical criticism. Why focal level on the slightly itsy-bitsy chunk of oil and gas emissions which come from producing the stuff and not the excellent higher emissions from burning it?

However satellites fair not too lengthy ago published that leaks from Turkmenistan’s oil and gas infrastructure last yr did more damage to the local climate than the full of the UK does.

On condition that even underneath the IEA’s 1.5-aligned scenario we’ll be utilizing oil and gas for as a minimum 30 years, it might possibly perchance possibly perchance well perchance be simply to stride these leaks as a minimum.

However will these initiatives serve with that? Or are they accurate a public relatives stunt, so oil and gas companies can say they’re doing one thing whereas pumping more oil?

This week’s recordsdata: 

• German landlords location to defeat gas boiler ban
• Cop28 moots oil and gas initiative no topic greenwash accusations
• After courtroom blocks renewables push, US promotes carbon capture & hydrogen
• Paris settlement’s police force begins with rebuke to Vatican
• Ecuador gets low-value debt write-off with promise to present protection to Galapagos’s nature

The Paris Agreement is famously voluntary, relying on peek stress and encouragement as opposed to principles and self-discipline.

However it absolutely does savor some legally-binding ingredients. And now the closest thing it has to a police force has been location as a lot as enforce them.

It’s begun its work with a reprimand to at least one amongst the realm’s tiniest and holiest countries, who savor didn’t submit an area climate thought to the UN.

That issue must always be fixed with out concerns. However the committee is liable to plot shut on bigger countries and tougher circumstances rapidly.